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Maiden podium ‘not far away’ says Zhu ahead of Nűrburgring

Rising star dreams of becoming first Chinese F1 driver

David Zhu believes the forthcoming rounds at the Nűrburgring
could well yield his maiden Formula Two podium, after enjoying an
impressive start to his debut season.

The 21-year-old became the first Chinese driver to have raced in
any era of the series this year and has been quick to make his
mark, scoring a points finish during the opening rounds at
Silverstone and both times qualifying in the top 10.

He continued his strong pace during the last rounds at Portimáo to
finish fifth in the opening round, having run fourth for much of
the race and soaking up sustained pressure from Markus
Pommer.

Now the former Formula Pilota China driver is hoping to go even
better at the next F2 rounds at the Nűrburgring, which take place
on 25-27 May. Speaking to Formulatwo.com, Zhu said: "This is my
first year in European racing where everything is new and I've had
to adapt in a very short amount of time. I've had a good start
though in the first two race meetings and I think I will get better
in the upcoming races. The Nűrburgring is a very technical track
and I think a lot of the European drivers are good at this circuit,
but I still believe my first podium is not far away."

He added: "I really enjoy driving in the F2 series and the standard
of drivers is very high and competitive, plus the car is much more
powerful. The Portugal rounds were very good for me, even though it
was my first time there. I like the track a lot and adapted to it
very quickly. Round one was perfect, I started from eighth and
moved to fourth but I struggled a bit with tyre temperatures in the
first two laps so I was suffering with understeer and oversteer. On
lap 16 I was battling with Pommer which made my tyres worse and I
lost the position."

This season Zhu is also acting as ambassador to F2 in his native
China, a role he is very much enjoying: "Motorsport is getting
bigger and bigger in China and it's good to see more European and
Chinese media reporting on the series. I'm proud to be the
ambassador of China. My dream is to be in F1 and I think I have the
ability to be the first Chinese F1 driver. At the moment though, my
goal is to win a race in F2!"

The next rounds of the F2 series take place at the Nűrburgring on
25-27 May with full coverage and live streaming of both races on www.formulatwo.com.